Courtesy of FGCUAthletics.com
KENNESAW, Ga. – After a month without playing, Marc-Eddy Norelia returned to the FGCU lineup with a team-best 21 points, Zach Johnson blocked a potential game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds and the Eagles (13-5, 2-0 ASUN) won their sixth in a row with a 78-75 decision at Kennesaw State (6-12, 0-2 ASUN) Thursday night.
Trailing by seven points midway through the 2nd half, FGCU battled back in front of KSU’s largest home crowd of the year and eventually had the contest tied at 68-68 with 5 minutes to play. That’s when Norelia – who had missed the previous six games for personal reasons – completed an and-1 finish to give the Eagles a lead they would not surrender the rest of the night.
Kennesaw State had a chance to send the game into overtime, but Johnson once again stepped up with a huge block. The Eagles initially did a great job getting the ball out of the hands of Kennesaw State’s two most lethal 3-point threats – Kendrick Ray and Nick Masterson – and into the hands of Tyler Hooker. From the top of the arc with 2 seconds remaining, Johnson soared for the rejection to preserve FGCU’s fifth road win on the year and second in a row to open conference play.
Demetris Morant (Miami, Fla./UNLV/Bishop Gorman HS) secured his sixth career double-double with 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, while Brandon Goodwin (Norcross, Ga./UCF/Norcross HS) tallied 20 points once again and added three steals. Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS) finished with 14 points, while Norelia (Orlando, Fla./Tulane/Olympia HS) also added six rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 25 minutes off the bench.
The Eagles entered the contest ranked 3rd in the nation in field goal percentage at .522, and increased that with a 58-percent clip (33-57) against the Owls. A big part of that came from high-percentage shots as Dunk City threw down nine slams and totaled 52 points in the paint compared with KSU’s 26.
FGCU came into the game averaging the 2nd-most points in the paint per game in the country (42.6) behind only Kentucky, and delivered its 3rd-straight performance of at least 50 points in the key and fourth in the last five games.
The matchup pitted Kennesaw State’s 2nd-ranked 3-point attack in the country in terms of percentage (43.2) against FGCU’s 11th-ranked 3-point defensive unit (28.8 percent), but the Owls connected at a 47.4-percent rate (9-19) – just the second team (Michigan State) to shoot at least 40 percent from beyond the arc against the Eagles this year.
“We scored a lot in the 1st half, but we didn’t have a lot of pop and couldn’t get in a rhythm,” stated FGCU head coach Joe Dooley, whose team trailed at halftime, 38-37, despite shooting 55 percent from the floor (17-31) in the opening 20 minutes. “Defense has been a staple of ours, and that’s something we haven’t been executing well enough of late, but we’ll figure that out. We certainly have plenty to improve, but at the end of the day it’s another road conference win, and those are always hard to come by.”
The Owls had a trio of 20-point scorers, led by 21 from Masterson, who shot 7-9 from the floor and 5-6 from 3-point range. Ray and Aubrey Williams each had 20 for KSU, which shot 45.2 percent (28-62) from the floor. Ray and Masterson accounted for all nine of Kennesaw State’s 3-pointers, making the final possession even more imperative for the Eagles to get the ball out of their hands.
The rejection for Johnson was the redshirt sophomore’s second potential game-tying block in the final seconds. The first came in the ASUN Championship title game last year in overtime when the 6-2 guard rose up to send back a Stetson layup to seal the victory for the Eagles.
FGCU has now won 12-straight games over Kennesaw State – the longest active streak and tied for the 2nd-longest such run among current ASUN members in league history. The Eagles are now 14-6 all-time versus Kennesaw State. While FGCU has won 12 in a row against the Owls, each of the last seven meetings between the two sides have been decided by 10 points or fewer.
The win sets up an early undefeated ASUN showdown Saturday afternoon in Nashville against Lipscomb (10-9). The Bisons – who have also won six in a row – destroyed Stetson at home Thursday, 94-68, to move to 2-0 in league play. It will conclude an early challenging stretch for the Eagles in which each of their first three ASUN games will be contested on the road for just the second time in program history.
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